When does the Olympics end? Date of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics closing ceremony - and how to watch

The Olympic Games started with a bang in Tokyo with its opening ceremony on Friday 23 July.

As athletes from all over the world compete to claim gold, bronze and silver medals, this is what you need to know about when the Olympics will end.

When will the Olympics end?

The closing ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will be held on Sunday 8 August, at 8pm Tokyo time, which is around 12pm UK time.

The concept for the closing ceremony is “Worlds We Share” and the Olympic website explains that the concept “expresses the idea that each of us inhabits their own world”.

The site states: “The Games have and will provide us with food for thought about diversity and inclusion as we continue on to the Paralympic Games.

“Even if we cannot be together, we can share the same moment, and that is something that we will never forget. It is this salient message which we believe will create a Closing Ceremony that will open the door to a brighter future.

“We hope that this ceremony may be a moment for each and every one of us to think about what the future holds.”

How can I watch the closing ceremony?

You’ll be able to watch the closing ceremony live on BBC One.

On the last day of the games, the BBC will be offering live coverage of the Olympics, with the closing ceremony being aired from 11:55am to 3pm.

As is tradition, the closing ceremony will feature the handover of the Olympic flag. Yuriko Koike, the Governor of Tokyo, will pass the flag to IOC President Thomas Bach, who in turn will hand it to Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, where the next Olympic games are set to be held.

The passing of the flag to the French Mayor will be followed by the raising of the French flag, and the playing of the French anthem.

Much like the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony will have a distinct lack of fanfare due to Covid-19 restrictions mandating that no fans be allowed in the stadium.

International fans had already been banned from attending the Games, and because of the state of emergency declared in Tokyo, a total ban on spectators was confirmed at most venues.

When will the Olympics next return?

The Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games will return in 2022, and will be held in Beijing.

Beijing won the bid for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in 2015, and it is set to become the first city in the world to have hosted both summer and winter versions of the games.

It will host four snow events, which are both men’s and women’s snowboarding big air, freestyle skiing big air, and all the ice events as well, which are curling, ice hockey and skating.

The 109 events in seven Olympic winter sports will be held across three competition zones, located in central Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou.

The games will begin on Friday 4 February 2022, and end on Sunday 20 February 2022.

The summer Olympic Games will return once again in Paris, in 2024. They will run from 26 July to 11 August.